African American Odyssey Chapter 4

Summary for Chapter 4

Summary:

In this chapter the authors explored the African-American quest for liberty during the 20 years between 1763, when then French/Indian war ended and 1783, when Britain recognized the independence of the United States. During this time, the textbook explains, how the African Americans exercised an intellectual and political leadership that had far-ranging implications. Most importantly, the African Americans used the War for Independence to gain their freedom. (67 words)

Key Points:

The Seven Years War was a war that begun in North America in 1754 and the spread to Europe in 1756 and then spread to other parts of the world. It was when the British and French were competing in efforts to control the Ohio River Valley and its lucrative fur trade. The changes from this war had huge consequences. Therefore leading the French and Spanish to be dissipated and then many resisted when the British Parliament asserted its power to tax and govern the people. The Parliament repeatedly passed laws that many Americans considered oppressive. The beginning of the end. (101 words)

The Declaration of Independence that the Continental Congress adopted in 1776, was drafted by a slave holder in a slaveholding country. I was interested to learn that Jefferson, Adams and Benjamin Franklin denounced the slave trade as “ a cruel war….” In the Declaration but it was deleted by Congress because the Deep South objected to it. In response, African Americans asserted such principles to the white population and forced white people to confront the contradiction between the new nations professed ideas and reality. Whites never denied that African Americans aren’t human beings, but to cover themselves they changed American society and rejected their revolutionary ideology that supported their claims to freedom. (113 words)

Benjamin Banneker was an African American born free in Maryland. He was the inventor of the time clock and even a treatise on bees. He gained international fame for being a mathematician and an astronomer. After becoming a member of the survey commission in Washington that made him the first black civilian employee of the U.S. government. He was influential in calling Thomas Jefferson to account for the Notes on the State of Virginia ( A writing that said that Black people were inherently inferior intellectually to white people). He believed that God created us all to be “one flesh”. (100 words)

African Americans were called Loyalists in the War for Independence. They decided to join the side that offered freedom. Many slaves escaped and sought British protection as Loyalists. Thomas Jefferson claimed that over 30,000 slaves escaped in Virginia alone during the war. During 1781, the British used the bodies of African Americans